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Kapparos is a weird enough ceremony that it always is good for providing weird experiences, and even some controversy.

Sarah Chandler of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center has come up with a new procedure for kappparos. Instead of grabbing the chicken and whipping it through the air, as she says, one would say the kapparos and then embrace the chicken while confessing the sins. A hug solves all ills.

Just to be fair, I would protest the use of the terms grabbing the chicken and whipping it through the air. I rarely see people whip it through the air. Most people wave it gently and uncomfortably. Also the grabbing it is unusual. Most people pick up the chicken very hesitatingly and cautiously.

Back to the hugs, even though hugging the chicken is not the Standard Operating Procedure, I don't think hugging the chicken is really any weirder than waving it over one's head. Or any weirder than waving palm fronds, confessing sins over a body of water with fish (and throwing crumbs in or not), eating a fish head or any of the other symbolic customs we perform on our holidays...

Still weird. I am not hugging a chicken, though I am also not waving it over my head...

They used to say that what the Reform do today, the Conservative will do in 15 years, and the Orthodox will do in 30.

While we often hear criticism of the Reform for their "bark mitzvas", with the same few videos on Youtube being pointed to as proof,  the trend of sharing our religious experiences with our pets has eventually found its way to Orthodox Judaism...

What are MKs Yiroel Eichler and Menachem Eliezer Mozes goign to do next time they talk about the Reform bark mitzvahs and this gets thrown back at them?

A father in Connecticut is lamenting the fact that his son decided to not be the second coming of Sandy Koufax and will participate in his college football game. On Yom Kippur.

The father, in a Tablet Magazine article, laments how connected to Judaism his son was and how despondent this decision makes him (the father, not the son), but then he comes to terms with it and even sees a good side in it - the integration of the Jews into American society.

As sad as it might be that this young man has decided to play ball on Yom Kippur instead of respect and commemorate the solemnity of the day (whether in a shul or at home or even in a beer garden), the father need not be blamed for this decision (as is invariably happening online).

It might not be great that the father "is fine with it", but parents really cannot be blamed for the life-decisions made by older children. The most religious and connected people have children that have left the path pf religion, and practically every parent has a child or children that have chosen a different path or set of values than what the parents tried to imbue in them.

Our kids are people with their own minds and experiences, and no matter what a parent wants or does not want a kid to do, the kids will end up making their own decisions and going their own way. The parents are rarely to blame for the kids decisions.

I wonder... if I do kapparos with a Braekel chicken, do I keep my sins or do they go onto the chicken? Does it depend which rabbi I follow and which hechsher I eat? What if I eat from both the hechsher of the people who oppose the Braekel and from the people who certify the Braekel as kosher?

photo by Yaakov Lederman

A brief scuffle ensued when some avreichim in Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem discovered the identity of a person distributing missionary materials on car windshields across the neighborhood, including in the Haredi section.

When the police arrived to break up the argument and separate them, one of the officers responded to the avreichim by saying that the missionaries are no different than the Haredim who go out looking to be "machzir btshuva" secular people. Obviously the avreichim were very upset and offended by this.
source: Kikar

I have heard this before, and I have no idea how to respond to it. It sounds like it has some truth to it. Even though it is within the same religion while classic missionaries are trying to draw people from other religions to the religion they are representing, from the perspective of someone secular, how is a Chabadnik trying to put tefillin on people or someone at the Kotel snagging people for home cooked Shabbos meals, or baal tshuva yeshiva reps who target them or their kids in an attempt to turn them religious really any different?

I don't have a good handle on how to differentiate between them. And if there is no difference, why is missionizing not ok but having tefillin booths and people handing cds of machzirei btshuva rabbis ok - is it just because Orthodox Judaism is right?

it is nearly kapparos time...

huh? when will he be taking a knee? he'll be on his knee the entire Yom Kippur? Maybe when he bows for Aleinu in Mussaf he'll consider that taking a knee...

sorry. I have not disappeared. I just havent seen anything happening around that interests me enough to comment on right now...

Countless stories have been shared of hasidic Jews who leave their community of origin and become completely secular, but what about those who leave one Jewish community behind to find another that is a better fit for them? Project Makom, an initiative of Jew in the City, helps former and questioning charedi Jews find their place in Orthodoxy.

very touching

uhhhh

it has been a few months since episode 4 aired, but they just released the bloopers...

Some rabbi in Washington DC has an interesting interpretation of the name "Yom Kippur".

We all know the saying that Yom Kippur is a day similar to Purim (Ki-Purim). The explanations of that saying are varied, yet I never before heard one saying that Yom Kippur is like Purim in the sense that like Purim is  "topsy turvy" and upside down, so Yom Kippur should be as well, and therefore hold Yom Kippur services in a bar. I would assume he is also channeling the above average drinking on Purim and adding that atmosphere of the beer bar to Yom Kippur.

According to the Religion News Service, Rabbi Aaron Potok and Sarah Hurwitz will be doing just that - holding Yom Kippur services in a beer garden.

Criticism abounds and is obvious.

Weird.

"The Kiddush Man" is a Columbia University thesis film, and was awarded the National Board of Review Award by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

there is a project to have MKs express in public "sorry, I made a mistake".. these are the ones I have seen, so far. I might have missed, as there are a lot, and maybe they are not yet all published..

I find it interesting how some make it more personal about what the MK himself or herself did or did not do, and some make it more general, apologizing for something the Knesset did or did not do...

in no particular order...

as part of the ongoing protest of the disabled people, they stopped traffic this morning during rush hour traffic on the Ayalon Highway... people must have been pretty upset...

Ha Ha!

Deputy Minister Meir Porush and his son Mayor of Elad Yisrael Porush spent Rosh Hashana in Monsey by the Admor of Visznitz Monsey. While there, on Shabbos, during the services, two "sikrikim" - crazies, extremists, anti-Israel thugs - went into the shul and started screaming disparaging epithets at them.

According to a report on Behadrei, the police were brought in and the two were detained and admitted under force to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital.

I hope the relevant information gets made public around there and it ruins their lives - everything in those communities is stigma and public knowledge of mental illness indicated by admission to a psych ward can be bad for them.

The rules are very confusing. You have to be a Talmudist to figure out which program treats gifts from family as ordinary income

   -- Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, head of the Vaad in Lakewood, in LA Times story rehashing the story of the welfare arrests in Lakewood

It must be difficult to find a Talmudist in Lakewood..

kol isha alert..

looks like a good movie.. peek-a-Jew happens at about 1:21.. no idea what he adds..

Bibi should wander around Israel every now and then as well and greet his own citizens...

this report on Kikar is weird, but might even be brilliant!

According to the report, there has been an uptick in the number of people hospitalizing their elderly parents, who need care, just for the holidays as they are too difficult to deal with and provide the necessary care over the holidays. This is referring specifically to people who normally are caring for their elderly parents, but it just becomes too difficult during holiday season, so they hospitalize them instead. Obviously the elderly parents qualify for hospitalization and need to medical care, but usually the kids take care of them, perhaps with an on-call nurse or perhaps not, but it just becomes too difficult during the holidays.

This is a brilliant solution. I am going to look more into this option... I guess I'll find out firsthand if my parents read this or not... :-)

You are saying that for decades football has been played on Shabbos, but you are forgetting that our tradition and Torah have been around for 5777 years.

  -- Chief Justice Noam Solberg, responding to a claim made in the Supreme Court as to why it is important to continue allowing the football games to be played on Shabbos

WATCH how brave American diplomats handle Rosh Hashana delicacies Gefilte fish and Regel Krusha (p'tcha), and can they keep it down? Every year new American diplomats arrive in Israel to serve at the Embassy. This year we decided to test their "guts" with a couple of dishes that are most-closely associated with Rosh Hashana. These reactions you DON'T WANT TO MISS (and the surprise visitor at the end)!

get a bit into the High Holiday spirit...

There is a minhag that women do not wear gold jewelry on Yom Kippur. Personally I never was aware of it until after I was married. In more recent years it seems to have spread to also men removing any gold jewelry (usually a watch, sometimes a ring) and also to Rosh Hashana.

the supposed reason for this custom is to not raise the memory of the Golden Calf on the day we stand in judgement. Presumably wearing gold jewelry would cause God to remember the sin of the Golden Calf.

Personally I do not believe in "new" minhagim so I wear my watch on Yom Kippur (and Rosh Hashana), in addition to the practical reasons to wear it (i.e. to tell the time, and I have no other watch - during the week I use my cellphone or other digital contraptions for telling time).

Someone asked Rav Bentzion Mutsafi about wearing a watch on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with a silver strap that has gold stripes on it.

Rav Mutsafi responded that both men and women can wear gold jewelry on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and there is absolutely no source for the minhag to not wear such jewelry. Only the kohen gadol would remove his gold jewelry and garments when he went into the kodesh kodashim on Yom Kippur. nobody else needs to remove anything. Rav Mutsafi exhorts the questioner, and I guess everyone else, to not make up things from their imagination.
source: Kikar

as an aside, Rav Mutsafi also criticized another new custom.

While everyone talks about going to Uman for Rosh Hashana, there is also a custom, common in Breslav among those who do not go to Uman along with some other people, to spend Rosh Hashana by the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron, also often leaving one's family behind.

I first learned of this custom a few years ago when a friend went with a hassidic rebbe with whom he was close.

Rav Mutsafi said one should preferably daven calmly and peacefully in a shul close to home and eat is meals at home with his family.

New customs all around. None of them are real. People can make up whatever they want and whatever makes them feel good and fulfilled - but it does not mean you have to follow suit.

Yisrael Hayom is reporting on a statement supposedly made by some unnamed person highly connected to the Mideast peace negotiations from the side of the USA saying that if Abu Mazen's upcoming speech at the United Nations will be laden with direct attacks on the US Administration and its peace efforts, the USA will respond by moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

First of all, I'll take what we can get. If that is what is needed to get the USA to move the Embassy, and if Abu Mazen attacks the USA at his United Nations podium, and the USA carries out its threat, so be it.

Second, this may be an impetus for Abu Mazen to speak harshly about the USA instead of a deterrent. Then he can blame the USA and show them as unfair brokers and nobody will remember that Abu mazen did what he did but will simply blame the USA.

Third, I really prefer that the Embassy be moved as a result of a decision that it is the right thing to do - and not by being used as a threat, neither as a stick or as a carrot. If the USA thinks the time is right and it should be moved, move it. If not, not. 

Fourth, this might actually be a bigger threat to the Israelis who seemingly have not wanted the ruckus that could be caused by such a move and seemingly had persuaded Trump's people to put the plan on the backburners.

Guys, where are all the people of Tel Aviv screaming about Haredim not being drafted to the army when the Muslims are not drafted? Why is that ok? They do not even learn, they do not serve the State in any way. They simply do not get drafted. Why? Because it is not comfortable, but you will not hear anyone talk about it... 
for two thousand years of exile when Jews prayed in the privacy of their homes and in hiding, quietly, they made a kiddush hashem while putting themselves in danger - that was good for us. Now that we have a State we should not allow them to learn Torah? Have we fallen on our heads? We have gone crazy!

  -- MK Oren Chazzan (Likud), at a toast for the New Year at a local Likud branch..

In response to persisting rumors that the Tzohar organization is planning to open a kashrut division through which they will certify food establishments as kosher, the Rabbanut has sent Rav Stav, head of Tzohar and Chief Rabbi of Shoham, a letter saying that if he does indeed open such a division that will compete with the Rabbanut, the Rabbanut will be forced to relieve him of his duties from his position as Chief Rabbi of Shoham.
source: Haredim10

If them's the rules, them's the rules. If he cannot function in  both capacities due to some conflict of interest, Rav Stav will have to choose which is more important for him, for the organization or for his work and his goal in effecting the nation.

That being said, where were such letters when the Yosef family opened the Bet Yosef kashrut organization. Were the various Rabbis Yosef ever warned or relieved of their duties for running a competing kashrut organization? The Bet Yosef hechsher is flourishing. One of the Yosef brothers,chief rabbi of an Israeli city, has even been indicted for this breach of pushing the Bet Yosef hechsher over the Rabbanut, so we see this has even been abused by them with no warnings or action form the Rabbanut.

I only mention the Yosef family because that is the only one that comes to mind. If there are other State-appointed rabbis running kashrut organizations, the same question would apply regarding them.

Apply the same rules to everyone.

major appearance change on Lipa.. different haircut, a goatee, and it looks like his long chassidishe peyos are no longer...

This is a bit of a strange situation.

As Hurricane Irma made its approach towards Miami, some people went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky asking what to do. The question, and his answer somehow seemed unclear enough that it stirred a debate around the world as to what exactly he was asked and what he meant.

While to me it seems pretty clear what is being asked and what is being answered, I guess it was not as clear as it seemed to me.

Judge for yourself:
The question seems to clearly be asked that there was recently a hurricane that killed people and another one is now approaching Miami and the authorities are saying people should leave their houses on Shabbos because they might get killed. Rav Kanievsky responds it is a sakana and the questioner confirms that the people should leave and Rav Kanievsky nods.

Seems clear to me bu tthere were big debates what he meant.

Truthfully I am not even sure why anyone felt they needed to ask him, but ok. I am not sure who would refuse to leave until Rav Kanievsky would say so. It was clearly a situation of danger and pikuach nefesh would mandate evacuating even on Shabbos. But they asked, and it seems he answered, albeit one word but still seems clear.

The question to me is raised in an article on Behadrei berating other news media for "getting it wrong" and misunderstanding and therefore misquoting Rav Kanievsky.

The article says the JTA quoted Rav Chaim Kanievsky as having said the Jews should travel on Shabbos to flee from the path of the hurricane. Other news sites then picked that up and also reported it as such.

Behadri says they got it wrong and Rav Chaim never said that. Unfortunately the author of the article on Behadrei does not explain what Rav Chaim Kanievsky was saying if he was not saying that. He said "sakana" and then nodded when confirmed that people should leave on Shabbos. What did he mean if not that people should leave on Shabbos?

I don't actually care what he said, and I do not think it had any relevance in real-time and I saw no point in the question being asked to him. Local rabbonim, even gedolim, in the USA should have been asked any question about what to do in such a situation, if any question was even necessary. That being said, if the author thinks he has more insight than everyone else into what Rav Chaim Kanievsky actually said or meant, he should at least tell us and not just say everyone else got it wrong. Considering what the video shows and what the author says everyone misunderstood, I am more curious as to his interpretation of the conversation than anything else!

And if even one word with a nod is so difficult to understand, and so easily misunderstood, is there any value in asking the question to receive such an unclear answer?

The crisis regarding the Supreme Court decision to cancel to law passed in Knesset 2 years ago by the Haredi parties regarding the IDF draft and yeshiva students really serves everyone's needs.

The Supreme Court does what it does for whatever reasons it has. They again canceled a law passed by the Knesset, so they are showing everyone they are in charge. The Haredi parties passed a law that is unconstitutional (whatever that means in a country with no constitution), and now get another year to function according to that law before it gets cancelled. In a year they will pass another law, that will surely be cancelled a couple years later giving them more time to work out the text of another law. Just like in the past versions of the law were passed, eventually cancelled, more time given, new laws passed, canceled, etc.

The cycle continues with each side getting exactly what it wants. Nobody affected by the expected law will ever have to serve in the IDF because of it, and the cancellation of the law will never cause anyone to serve either, nor will it ever do anything to the Haredi parties beyond giving them more time and something to rally around.

Basically this is a manufactured crisis with everyone getting what they want and nothing being slated to change.

According to the Independent, China has signed a $300,000,000 deal to purchase lab-grown meat from Israel.

That is amazing. I had no idea that lab-grown meat was already marketable or nearing being ready for market.

I wonder if this meat will also be sold in Israel. If it will be, will it bear a hechsher? Will it be determined to be pareve? Will there be different levels of hechsher as with real meat, such as glatt, chalak, mehadrin and regular kosher, and maybe others?

I will assume there will be different types of meats grown in the lab to replicate different types of real meats. For example, I am sure there will be options such as meats similar to beef and lamb. WIll Israel also produce lab grown pork? Will the Rabbanut allow this and certify it as kosher? I don't see why not, as there are many mock foods already on the market, including mock bacons, that are certified as kosher.

the main question might be why the original article includes a picture of a panda bear. Will Israel be making mock panda bear meat? Or is it simply that the panda bear as a vegetarian will now be able to eat the lab-grown meat from Israel?

nice, and that is a beautiful challa, but too bad the kiddush cup will be in non-Jewish hands from now on..

this is funny

History being made in the Ukraine: Rav Shechter lands in Uman

   -- Actualic

I love the dramatic headline. history being made! A breslaver chassid went to Uman for Rosh Hashana! Historic!

A lawsuit in Haifa ran into some scheduling problems when a date was set for deliberation. One of the lawyers requested the deliberation be postponed due to the fact that that day, last week Monday, would be 30 days form the birth of his first child -a son. That day he will be busy fulfilling his obligation of pidyon haben, redeeming the firstborn son.

The judge responded that because the mitzva needs to be performed on the day required by the torah, but I, the judge, am a kohen and am prepared redeem the baby for the father thus allowing him to perform the mitzva without any need for delaying the deliberations. The judge expressed some concern about the possibility that the father might "abandon" the child and not redeem him from the kohen, but he dismisses that concern. He then agreed to delay the deliberation by a few days..
source: Bahdrei

not something you expect to read about or experience in the secular court system...

Mazel Tov to Rav Reuven Vabeshet (sp?) on being appointed to the position of Chief Rabbi of the Ethiopian community in Israel.
source: Kipa

I just don't get why he is dressed like a Litvishe Ashkenazi Jew, but I guess to each his own.

 If they aspire to be a part of the Litvishe Ashkenazi community, why do they need their own Chief Rabbi?

This is big news for Israels, and especially for Olim Chadashim. We all love to order items from abroad, whether online stores in the USA, such as Amazon or others, whether NEXT form the UK, or Ali Express in China, for example. Yet we get tracking notice that the order is in Israel and it can still take weeks until we get that notice that a package has arrived.

Israel Post is working on a new system that will have your package delivered to you within 48 hours of it having arrived in Israel.

They are putting together an automated sorting system that can handle tens of thousands of packages every hour. The new location will be staffed by 250 employees and will be located on a site in Modiin that is 18 dunam large.

Until now sorting was a long tedious process. The package would arrive at the airport and then get sorted multiple times, by hand, at various sorting centers. The sorting process alone took 5-7 days.

Now the packages will go straight from the airport to the new sorting center and from there straight to your local post office branch.
source: NRG

I hope it works. This would improve the process a lot!

Israel’s High Court won’t hear man claiming to be ‘Messiah’

  -- Times of Israel

this is weird.  Thsi Mashiach guy should have said something against the Rabbanut or connected it to the yeshiva draft and then they might have agreed to hear his case....

Now here is something I do not understand.

MKs and askanim from Shas are going to the rabbonim who spoke against Guetta and said he should be thrown out. They are going to ask that they reverse their call and allow him to withdraw his resignation.
source: Actualic

I do not get it. It this is a Haredi party and what the rabbonim say goes, why would they ask the rabbonim to change their minds? That is not very Haredi of them. Do they not accept the rabbonim's opinion for what it is?

In Habayit Hayehudi they state openly that they do not follow the rabbonim and only take the opinion of their rabbonim under advisement, not as decisive. Shas is not even doing that - they are just trying to tell the rabbis what to say!

I am impressed with, and sad because of, Yigal Guetta's announcement that he is resigning from the Knesset.

I am impressed with his announcement because it deserves respect. He is resigning because of a personal "scandal" in which he did nothing wrong but publicize some behavior not consistent with the party he represents. He chose to resign from the Knesset instead of sell out his family. He deserves respect for this decision.

On the other hand,, it is a sad day that he is resigning. Guetta was a good politician for the people he represented. he was loyal to his party and to the people who brought him into politics. While he was a bit of a bully and a bulldog to protect his "masters", he was also entertaining and seemed pretty straight. His resignation is a sad day for the Knesset.

The Supreme Court made a couple of important, and controversial, decisions yesterday affecting religious life in Israel.

One of those decisions caused another chink in the monopoly of the Rabbanut over kashrut in Israel.

The Supreme Court decision was basically the allowance of a food establishment to present, even in writing, the halachic standards it follows and that it is, if it is, supervised by some agency regarding those standards, as long as it does not use the word "kosher" - unless it is supervised by the Rabbanut. The Supreme Court believes that a restaurant owner has the right to tell its customers and potential customers what its standards are, regardless of the Rabbanut supervision - they just cannot use the word kosher in doing so.

So, while the Supreme Court upheld the Rabbanut monopoly on the word, and on the use of the word, "kosher", they went further than ever before in allowing restaurant owners with no Rabbanut supervision much more leeway in what they are allowed to tell the public about their kashrut.

The Rabbanut is understandably upset about this and considers it a breech that will allow "fake" kashrut organizations to flourish. They say the public that is undereducated and under-informed about the complexity of the relevant kashrut issues will not be able to make such determinations based on a statement of standards and whatnot and will easily be deceived about kashrut they are interested in keeping.

Good or bad, the Rabbanut is losing its monopoly and control, little by little. They really know this already, from other decisions in the past couple of years. In Jewish communities in countries around the world there is no central authority that has ultimate control and there is no reason to think Israel must have one and without it kashrut will suffer. it also does not mean Israel cannot have such a central authority, but if it wants to keep its control it will have to be far more forthcoming and cooperative than it is. At the end of the day, monopolies are almost never good for the final consumer. The Rabbanut has not yet made the case that it is an exception to that rule.

a guest post by Moshe Burt

Zehut Party in Israel and the First Ever Home/Office Computer/Cellular International Primary Vote

Mark Burt‏ @BloggerFool

2day the Zehut party https://zehut.org.il/ members in Israel/Intn’l held the 1st ever, anywhere, home/off computer/cellular primary vote.